1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a print processing system and a corresponding method.
2. Description of the Prior Art
One proposed print processing system enables the user to select either home printing, which prints one or multiple images selected by the user among multiple images via the Internet with the user's own printer, or center printing, which prints the user's selected images with a printer at a printing center and makes delivery of resulting prints to the user (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Gazette No. 2002-300146). In response to the user's selection of home printing, this prior art print processing system sends the user's selected images in a size appropriate for the user's own printer and allows the user to edit the selected images in the range of permission of the copyright holder of the selected images and print the edited images with the user's own printer. In response to the user's selection of center printing, on the other hand, the prior art print processing system requests the user to enter specifications of editing and a predetermined size, prints the user's selected images with the entries of the specifications of editing and the predetermined size at the printing center, and delivers resulting prints of the selected images to the user.
In the case where the user selects center printing, the user's selected images are kept in the printing center. This undesirably allows the printing center to freely process the received images and does not effectively prevent illegal printing like unauthorized copies of the images.
The object of the invention is thus to effectively prevent illegal and unauthorized printing of data.